I’m not going to lie: I went into this movie with high expectations. And except for a few nitpicks, this movie did not disappoint.

I walked into this movie expecting a solid and fresh allegorical premise. What I saw was a movie with script and direction that analyzed its premise in great depth from every conceivable angle. I walked into this movie expecting a detailed custom-made world. What I saw was a production design nothing short of epic in scope, shaped by a population that went to extreme measures in molding their world to accommodate vampires. I didn’t expect a horror movie, but I did get a film with several jump scares. Most of them were totally pointless, though this relative horror newbie spitefully found them all to be quite effective.

The actors’ performances were all fine. Willem Dafoe went a little too broad at times, but he was still serviceable. I appreciated that the movie had a strong and beautiful female lead, but without making her overly young and sexual or forcing her into a romance with Ethan Hawke’s character. Also, I’m really starting to feel sorry for Isabel Lucas. I wish the girl had gotten enough screen time to prove (or disprove) that she’s more than just a pretty face for Michael Bay, but no such luck. Still, the story utilized her character in an interesting way and Lucas did nothing to interfere with that.

And now I’m going to talk at length about the much-touted cure for vampirism. As you may have guessed, this is the central mystery to the entire movie and the key to its plot. To that end, I implore you: If you haven’t yet seen the movie, DO NOT READ THE SPOILERTEXT. I can guarantee that the movie will be far less enjoyable if you do.

*I realize that the “sun” cure may seem a little cheesy, but I thought it was rather clever. Sunlight should be fatal to a vampire, but surviving it makes you human. Kinda like how a vampire bite should be fatal to a human, but surviving it makes you a vampire. There’s a nice symmetry there. Unfortunately, the controlled experiment for this cure was hindered by a sizable logic hole: Why didn’t those electrodes burn up? And why were they necessary to begin with?

Then there’s the “treated vampire blood” cure. This is a bit more problematic as it does come out as a kind of deus ex machina. Unfortunately, I fail to conceive of any better way to set this up. For my money, the only way they could have done it was how they finally did pull it off. This does completely ruin the later climactic reveal with Sam Neill’s character for anyone with half a working brain, but at least the Spierigs were smart enough to hold that mystery for only a few minutes. Also, again, this cure has a nice symmetry: Vampirism spreads at the exponential rate of a pandemic, as does its cure.*

Despite a few holes in logic and some redundant jump scares, I did find this movie to be absolutely worthy of all my anticipation. I highly recommend it. Drag a few of your Twilight-loving friends along (statistically, you probably have at least one) and call it payback.